Garmin Ltd has today announced third quarter results for the period ended 24 September 2011. Although total revenue was down 4% to US$667 million, the company did see four business segments post growth in the quarter.
The Outdoor segment (including hand-held GPS devices) saw revenue increase 5% to reach US$95 million in the quarter. Garmin’s Fitness segment (including GPS enabled fitness products, such as the Garmin Forerunner) saw revenue increase 29% to US$69 million.
Revenue growth was also posted by Garmin’s Aviation and Marine business segments. Although, it’s largest business unit – the Automotive/Mobile segment – saw revenue decrease 13% to US$384 million in the period.
Geographically, taking all business units together, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) contributed growth in Q3 2011. EMEA revenue was US$258 million, up 19%. Yet, the Americas saw revenue fall 15% year on year to reach $352 million. APAC (Asia Pacific) revenue was US$57 million, compared to US$63 million, down 10%.
In year to date terms, total revenue of US$1.85 billion was flat compared to the year ago period. The star growth performer, was Garmin’s Fitness segment, which saw revenue increase 28% to US$203 million in the nine months to 24 September 2011.
Reporting on its business highlights for 2011, Garmin noted its announced launch of the Edge 200 and Vector power meter for the cycling community. The Edge 200 cycle computer ships in 2011 and the Vector will be available in early 2012.
Dr Min Kao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Garmin said, “In the third quarter, revenue again exceeded our expectations with fitness and aviation delivering strong growth even though macroeconomic conditions continued to be challenging. Free cash flow generation continued to be strong at US$174 million in the third quarter. This supports our high yield quarterly dividend, as well as on-going diversification through research and development investment and strategic acquisitions.”
Dr Kao added, “Based on our results in the quarter, we now expect to deliver revenues of approximately US$2.6 billion and pro forma EPS (earnings per share) of US$2.30-US$2.40 in 2011.”
Turning to its Fitness business, Dr Kao noted “The fitness segment posted revenue growth of 29% with strong results continuing from our high?end Forerunner 610 and Edge 800. While we have seen an increasing number of competitors in the fitness market, we have maintained our top position in the GPS?enabled fitness category by offering a range of products from entry?level with basic functionality like ‘how far and how fast’ to the high?end Forerunner 910 for the triathlete market.”
